[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for WandaVision, Mare of Easttown, and American Horror Story Season 10.]

Not every actor needs to be a leading man to win the hearts of audiences. Sometimes, all it takes is a series of supporting roles that highlight an actor’s calm, cool, and collected performances. Evan Peters has been amassing such roles throughout the years — from his regular appearances on American Horror Story which began with Season 1’s Tate Langdon, to his supporting role as the best friend of the titular superhero in Kick-Ass, and to his own superhero role in the X-Men ensemble as Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past. His renown isn’t necessarily A-list, but he has garnered long-time popularity among faithful AHS fans. And while many had hesitations in his initial casting as the silver speedster — the role already portrayed by his Kick-Ass costar Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Avengers: Age of Ultron — his chrome-colored hair and matching goggles and jacket won over his initial critics through his quick and snappy dialogue.

But over the course of a single year, in 2021 Peters has spoiled us with multiple roles. Earlier this year, Peters gave Marvel fans a treat when he reprised his role as Quicksilver on Disney+’s WandaVision. Later, Evans appeared in HBO’s Mare of Easttown alongside Kate Winslet as her charming young investigative partner. Now, Peters returns for AHS’s tenth season as a vampire who moonlights as a writer in an eerie New England town. All three 2021 performances highlight Peters’ charm as a relatable average guy, which continues to work in his favor in these larger-than-life projects.

Evan Peters in WandaVision
Image via Disney+

When WandaVision premiered on Disney+ this past January, Marvel fans were hungry for superhero content, since the pandemic delayed many of the MCU's planned movies and streaming shows. This fervor continued as the series dropped and each episode was released weekly, resulting in a never-ending stream of fan theories and speculation. Despite rumors of Evan Peters showing up in WandaVision in the months leading up to the premiere, nothing had been official. That is, until that cliffhanger of an ending for Episode 5. Entitled, “On a Very Special Episode,” it was, indeed, special: As Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) reach the end of a heated argument, the doorbell to their front door rings. As we watch Wanda go to open it, Darcy (Kat Dennings) — from the real world outside the Scarlett Witch’s hexworld of a sitcom — parallels our own suspense. “Wanda,” Vision asks Wanda with a blank expression, “Who is this?” The camera pans behind a head of silver hair before cutting to his face. No, it isn’t Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s version of Pietro Maximoff but Evan Peters’ version from the Fox/X-Men universe! Or so we thought.

Despite his appearance being a red herring for the impending multiverse of madness — as this Pietro is merely an imposter who has been roped into Agatha Harkness’s (Kathryn Hahn) nefarious plans — Evan Peters managed to carry over the "cool bro" persona he so naturally developed for his take on Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix. While he may have been underserviced in that final X-Men ensemble film — injured at the hands of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) — WandaVision gave him another go at the role.

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“Long lost bro get to squeeze his stinkin’ sister or what?” Peters’ Pietro is how enters the world of the MCU, sporting a groovy collared shirt and black leather jacket (he’s kept his sense of style from when he was first introduced in Days of Future Past). In his subsequent episode — the special Halloween episode in which Peters gets to don the classic Quicksilver suit from the comics — Billy Maximoff (Jullian Hilliard) calls his Uncle Pietro a “man child.” The term is an accurate description of Peters’ Pietro but is even more applicable when his real identity is revealed. In typical Marvel fashion, ala the Mandarin reveal in Iron Man 3, this Quicksilver isn’t a speedster at all but an actor, Ralph Bohner. His simple response: a chuckle. “Boner,” he jokes about his own name. It is this “dude” quality he injects in his superhero role that makes him a fan favorite. Whether as some estranged long-lost uncle or some washed-up actor, Peters believably portrays the everyman qualities of his Quicksilver.

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Image via HBO

In a more understated example of the everyman, Evan Peters appeared next in HBO’s Mare of Easttown. The show already set up a strong lead in Kate Winslet’s Mare, a single mother and prominent police detective in the town of Easttown, Pennsylvania. After the first episode’s cliffhanger ending with the murder of a local teenage girl, Peters is introduced in the second episode as Colin Zabel, a young, handsome detective brought in by her higher-ups to help Mare with the case. The two butt heads, mainly because of Mare’s reluctance to share the case with an outside detective. But when Mare runs into Zabel at a bar, she softens towards him — his drunken, puffy eyes, his slurred words, and his quirky, even dorky charm. “Go back to your friends,” Mare tells him. But Zabel is reluctant and says, “I don’t know if I wanna go back with them. I think I’d rather stay here with you.” In the background, The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” plays, an appropriate track as the show sets up a romantic dilemma for Mare: will she choose Peters’ Zabel or go for Guy Pearce’s writer-professor Richard Ryan? Just as Mare begins to warm up to Zabel, audiences too had fallen for Peters.

As the show progresses, we see Zabel make advances towards Mare, bringing her coffee and eventually asking her out on a date. Zabel’s hopeful youth compliments Mare’s wearied and seasoned authority. He wants more for Mare than just a working relationship, despite her insistence and obsession with the case. When the two confront each other about their feelings, Zabel musters up the courage to kiss Mare, asking her, “How do you know what I want?” Clearly, Zabel wants her — his quick smile and those dimples give it away. It’s these small choices Peters gives in his performance that make Zabel such a likable character and love interest for Mare. The relationship doesn’t stand on Kate Winslet’s performance alone; Evan Peters manages to hold his own alongside and match the Academy Award-winning actress. This is why, in the same episode as their kiss, Zabel’s death at the hands of a suspect hit so hard for many.

Finally, in the tenth season of American Horror Story, Evan Peters returns to the show where most people had first noticed his boyish charm. While he has become more of a side character on AHS compared to his previous appearances in the first few seasons, Peters is still just as captivating. His first scene as novelist Austin Sommers, whose creativity is fueled by pills that give him an urge to feed on blood, involves a singing duet with Frances Conroy’s Belle Noir. In their rendition of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ “Islands in the Stream,” Peters exaggerates his face and makes hand gestures in the air, overdramatizing the love song in a more karaoke-like performance than a legitimate late-night entertainer.

american-horror-story-double-feature-red-tide-evan-peters
Image via FX

And as a writer by day, his character wears silky black pajamas that he bought in Paris. “They cost a fortune,” he tells fellow struggling writer Harry Gardner (Finn Wittrock), “But I read somewhere that people enjoy things more if you pay a lot for them.” Is there something darker underneath this smooth bravado? Sure, as he’s an accomplice to Belle Noir and her scheming, vampiric plans. But Peters still imbues his performance of Sommers with his trademark, everyman attitude. While the season is still ongoing, who knows where Evan’s character will go. Even so, this is only part one of the “Double Feature” tenth season of AHS — it’s safe to assume Peters will find a new way to adapt his average guy sensibilities for another character in the season’s second half.

Whereas other actors may feel the need to overperform — especially with a role like a snappy speedster, or as a writer addicted to vampire-turning drugs, or when going up against talent like Kate Winslet — Evan Peters takes on all these projects from the point-of-view of a relatable, average guy. The nuances of his characters are delivered in performances that highlight his calm and collected charm. No wonder he became America’s sweetheart during his limited airtime on Mare of Easttown. Evan Peters might not be a household name just yet, but he has become one of the most recognizable faces on television.

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